Fabrication of powder and modular H3PW12O40/Ag3PO4 composites: Novel visible-light photocatalysts for ultra-fast degradation of organic pollutants in water

Abstract

In this article, a series of powder and modular H3PW12O40/Ag3PO4 composites were successfully fabricated for the first time by simple strategies. The as-prepared powder and modular H3PW12O40/Ag3PO4 composites showed the unique photocatalytic characteristic of ultra-fast degradation of organic pollutants in water under visible-light. For the best powder H3PW12O40/Ag3PO4, 4-fluorophenol (4-FP) and methyl orange (MO) in water can be completely degraded and rhodamine B (RB) in water can be degraded to 78 % after 360 s of visible-light irradiation. For the best modular H3PW12O40/Ag3PO4, 4-FP, MO, and RB can be degraded to 84 %, 72 %, and 92 % after 30 min of visible-light irradiation. The reasons for this unique photocatalytic characteristic of as-prepared powder and modular H3PW12O40/Ag3PO4 composites were systematically studied by various modern characterization strategies. The "four-step" strategy was proposed in order to realize the practical engineering application of as-prepared powder and modular H3PW12O40/Ag3PO4 composites in photocatalytic organic wastewater treatment technology.